Conservation on the US-Mexico Border
In the vast expanse of the Rio Grande Valley, Benito Treviño stands as a guardian of a unique ecosystem. He is at once a rancher, botanist, educator, and cultural preservationist.
Back in 2021, American Forests turned to DDC to tell Benito’s story as part of a film series documenting the challenges and successes of their conservation program in Texas. Together with local landowners, AF is helping proliferate native plants and preserve the threatened thornforest.
For the assignment, I enlisted our frequent collaborator James Foguth, whose experience at home on the Navajo reservation made him a uniquely qualified filmmaker and photographer to bring Benito’s story to life.
In a departure from our usual style, we created a story centered on memory, opening with a dreamlike sequence based on Benito’s childhood recollection of watching his grandmother use plants as healing medicine. To play the roles of young Benito and his grandparents, we cast Benito’s nephew and two of his own siblings. We filmed on location at an old property that felt like a timecapsule of the 1950s and, in the edit, added a film look reminiscent of the Kodachrome film stock that was popular in the era.
The result was a visual journey through time, linking conservation through past, present, and future.
American Forests recently released the video alongside a feature online and in their print magazine. As we reflect on these stories and thornforest restoration, DDC is proud and honored to have created this unique video series.
